Beisner: A lot of agricultural economists think that the increased crop yields that we've seen over the last forty to fifty years, something in the neighborhood of twelve to fifteen percent of that is attributable directly to increased carbon dioxide, which means that food gets more plentiful and that helps the poor.

Well, the EPA wants to hurt the poor [in] two ways: one, by raising energy prices by forcing us to switch from carbon-based fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, to much more expensive and much less reliable fuels like wind, solar, and bio-fuels. And two, they want to hurt the poor by lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which would reduce plant growth efficiency, reducing crop yields, reducing food availability, raising food prices. So it's a double whammy on the poor.

Then David Barton, of all people, accuses scientists of ignoring anything that does support their worldview and manipulating data to support it, while complaining that it is all plot to increase government control and play God:

Barton: This is not about science, this has nothing to do with science. Science is a vehicle to give them more control over the lives of individuals.

Green: So there's no intellectual honesty then there?

Barton: No. There's no intellectual honesty. You find something that lines up with your worldview and you say "here it is, this is what I've always believed, I knew it was out there." And you find a fake science like the IPCC at the UN which has its own agenda ...

Green: And they're willing to put out supposed data, that's false ...

Barton: And the great proof that it's a philosophical worldview is when you refuse to listen to opposing data. When you get all these scientists on the other side ... who roll out all these studies that say "no, no, no that's wrong." When you won't listen to opposing data, science has nothing to do with it. You're into a worldview conflict at that point and your saying that my worldview demands that I have more control over your life, over what you do, that's why government does exist, you're hear to serve government, not vice versa, and this is the vehicle to do it. This really has nothing to do with science.

But what happens is, not understanding that, a lot of Americans buy into that this is science.

Green: Oh, they've been indoctrinated with it in education for the last twenty years.

Barton: Are you kidding me, Earth Day in the schools? We've got to save the Earth? I mean, that's like a tick ... trying to save a whole heard of cattle. I mean, ticks go along for the ride, they don't manage the cattle, they don't tell them where to go. And that's our arrogance in thinking that we can do something to save the planet and control where the planet goes. You know, we're just along for the ride and we're insignificant peons on this thing

Green: Well, arrogance is the right word. I mean, it really does, we get to the point where we think - not that we shouldn't do the things we can do, of course you do the things that are responsible - but we think that we can control this whole thing. We think we're God.

A few weeks back, we posted a series of videos taken from David Barton's two-week stint on "Gospel Truth" with Andrew Wommack. In one of those videos Barton explained how a "Jewish Rabbi friend" helped him understand that the Biblical story about the Tower of Bable was really about how God hates socialism.

Today, Lapin was the guest on "Wallbuilders Live" radio program and it became clear why he and Barton are such good friend when he explained that God hates government welfare so much that, in fact, it makes him cry:

When it's time to vote, I evaluate candidates on the basis of where they see the limits of constitutional government. Do they, for instance, believe that the entire moral structure of charity in the Bible is something that God intends governments to do coercively? That is simply a very false and, dare I say, frequently self-serving explanation of the Bible's view on charity . It's simply not so.

The idea is for individuals to give charity. And, as a matter of fact, I don't doubt for a moment that God frowns upon government coercive charity in the form of Welfare that has now presented us the specter of hard-working American families confronting confiscatory rates of taxation in order to underwrite multi-generational dysfunctionality. If anything brings tears to the eyes of God, in my view, it would be that.

"Everyone knows there is a problem," Gunn says. "The difference is, we ask what the Bible says about education. The issues brought up in Waiting for Superman are not solved in the film. They miss the mark. We are bringing children back to Christ."

The answer to the catastrophe of public education will not come from a government think-tank or a new institution, but rather from within the faithful family units that remain at the center of our nation's principles, Gunn stated.

…

While a majority of the conversation about education focuses on how to improve the public school system by spending more tax dollars, hiring more unqualified teachers, writing more slanted curriculum, Gunn's solution is to give children an explicitly Christian education to ensure that they are taught that God is the center of all things. "There is a deep philosophical issue in education. Who is sovereign and who will that child serve? Math, science, social studies -- every subject taught in school is designed to give glory to God," Gunn concluded.

I have to admit that my biggest pet peeve about David Barton is not his incessant dishonesty, but the manner in which he repeatedly asserts that the Bible supports his right-wing agenda by simply citing Bible verses without every explaining what they say, as he does in this clip about how only a Christian nation allows religious freedom because Christians know their true faith will always win:

Notice how he simply asserts that the entire concept of the free market comes out of the Bible and then just rattles off verses without bothering to elaborate? Of course, if you actually bother to look them up, here is what you find:

14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

32 Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD.

28 In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD’s portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present as the LORD’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’

22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

22 A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

8 “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

18 The prince must not take any of the inheritance of the people, driving them off their property. He is to give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that not one of my people will be separated from their property.’”

These are the passages, taken completely out of context and left utterly unexplained, upon which Barton thinks our public policy ought to be based.

How are Old Testament passages about setting aside offerings for the Lord to be used for determining our tax policies?

Using Barton's tactic, couldn't someone just as easily assert that Mark 12:41-44 means Jesus supports a progressive income tax?

Which brings us to Matthew 20: 1-16, which Barton cites as proof that "Jesus did not like the minimum wage":

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The conventional interpretation of this parable is that Jesus was talking about the Kingdom of Heaven - in fact, Jesus says right in it that "the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner" - and that the point was that no matter how late in one's life one comes to Christ, the heavenly reward is the same; those who embraced Christ on their deathbed will receive the same eternal reward as those who were Christians all of their lives because of God's generous love.

But for Barton, this is not a parable about Heaven but rather a statement by Jesus that he opposes minimum wage laws.

And using Barton's logic regarding this parable, it also means that it would be perfect acceptable to Jesus if employers want to pay minority and/or female workers less than they pay white male workers for doing the same job. After all, if this parable is not about the Kingdom of Heaven but rather wage laws, then Jesus is saying that employers have every right to decide what they are going to do with their own money and if they want to be more "generous" to white male workers than others, then that is perfectly acceptable in God's eyes.

When I was watching the series of Barton appearances on "Gospel Truth" with Andrew Wommack that I posted on last week, Wommack continually marveled at Barton's ability to find political messages in Gospel passages, repeatedly telling Barton that while he has spent his life studying the Bible, he had never made these connections.

And I think that is pretty telling.

If you have spent your life studying and preaching on the Bible and never realized that it contained detailed instructions for how we were to establish everything from our tax laws to building codes in accordance with a right-wing political agenda ... well, there is probably a reason for that.

This year's Life Fest Film Festival will include stars like "Ben Stein, Charlie Holliday, Jonathan Flora, Mell Flynn, and Clint Howard." Wow, quite the line-up.

Quote of the day from Dr. James Tonkowich of the Cornwall Alliance: "Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant - it's plant food. And higher carbon dioxide means, yes, plants are bigger, which incidentally makes the earth cooler. And it means that crop yields increase. I mean, in some ways, it's a good thing." I would like to point out that Tonkowich holds a Doctor of Ministry and his doctoral work focused on "spiritual and cultural transformation" and not, you know, science.

Finally, is the world ready for "John Hagee: A Lifetime of Music"? It drops April 12.

Yesterday I posted a video compilation of David Barton claiming that every aspect of our culture and politics - from our tax laws to our building codes - ought to be carried out in accordance with Biblical principles.

I have gone back through the videos to grab a few other highlights that I believe perfectly demonstrate the utter inanity of Barton's "expertise" and pseudo-history.

First of all is this video in which Barton claims that science always confirms what the Bible teaches, which is why global warming is not real and why embryonic stem cell research - which is immoral - will never work:

Next up Barton takes on the famous "Jefferson Bible," which he claims was not an attempt to Jefferson to remove all the things he didn't believe from the Gospels but rather an effort by Jefferson to produce a book that could be used to evangelize the Native Americans:

Finally, Barton explains that the story of the Tower of Babel is really about God's hatred of socialism:

This was actually just part one of a two part series that will conclude tomorrow and I have edited down the program to its key soundbites.

As you would expect, each one was greatly alarmed by push for marriage equality and vowed to dedicate their lives to doing everything they can to fighting it, with Jackson, who has walking pneumonia warning, warning that that it is the nation that has walking pneumonia that will turn fatal if left untreated, while Garlow asserted that secularists hate democracy as Bauer attacked the elites for promoting the bizarre idea of men marrying men and Perkins warned that children will be "indoctrinated into the ways of homosexuality":

Jackson: I think the nation has walking pneumonia and if we don't stop it, this thing could become fatal.

Garlow: Well, for one, we're not going to give up; we're going to press forward. It is true that it seems the secularists do really hate democracy, they don't like it when the people speak out so they try to get a judge or judges to try to take away the consent of the governed.

It's shocking to me that anybody would be attacked for standing up the family or standing for marriage or that a child needs a mommy and a daddy. Who would think that we'd be in such a condition that somebody would be attacked for that? But we just do not believe that somehow the power of the enemy is going to breakthrough and totally destroy the definition of the family. We're going to stand firm. The social science is on our side, overwhelmingly so, the practical implications are on our side, and the Biblical data is on our side.

Bauer: And what are the liberal elites of our country doing, whether it's the media elites or even the president or our judicial elites, etc., the people in Hollywood? Instead of devoting their energy to trying to stop this destruction of the American family and do something to make sure our children have mothers and fathers, they're all spending their time promoting instead men marrying men and women marrying women, which will guarantee that more children will have either not fathers or mothers. It is just a bizarre concept.

Perkins: As soon as same-sex marriage is rolled-out, the curriculum is changed to aggressively promote homosexuality on par with heterosexuality. There is complete intolerance in those pushing this agenda in our schools. And so this goes back to the question "how will this affect my marriage"? It will affect your family because your children will be taught that this is normal and it will be aggressively taught to them and they'll be indoctrinated into the ways of homosexuality.

The California Senate Education Committee passed legislation Wednesday that would mandate public schools teach U.S. history, California history and social science with a deliberate emphasis on the roles and contributions of gay- and lesbian-identified individuals, as well as those of transsexuals and bisexuals.

“It seems a bit like a quota system,” said Ron Prentice, executive director of the California Family Council. “It’s based less on the level of contribution and more on one’s sexual orientation.”

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, said: “Our Legislature just doesn’t get it — with thousands of teachers getting pink slips, this is not the time to place more expensive, politically correct mandates on our schools. This bill also undermines parental rights and is insensitive to those whose cultures and belief systems are at odds with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) agenda.”

…

Meanwhile, the military has been ordered to “re-educate” its members on similar issues. The U.S. House Armed Services Committee soon will hold hearings on the repeal of the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prevented open homosexuality in the military.

In 1993, the House and Senate conducted 12 hearings and field trips before passing the policy. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, said the committee needs to hold a similar number before any repeal is made permanent.

“Imposition of LGBT law and policies on our military would be enormously complicated and anything but simple,” she said. “Members of Congress must ask questions and insist on honest answers.”

Among the issues Donnelly wants addressed: sexual privacy violations; “zero tolerance” of dissent; impact of sexual misconduct on unit cohesion and trust in leadership; infringements on religious liberty for chaplains and people of faith; plans to accommodate same-sex couples in military family housing; LGBT “sensitivity” training in all Defense Department training programs, academies and schools; and personal dress and behavior.

Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute is outraged that the government is studying sexual behavior and the rate of sexually transmitted infections. In fact, Crouse is upset that the government is using the term “sexually transmitted infection (STI),” which the health community believes is the most accurate term since sexually transmitted diseases are infections that show symptoms. She is also upset that the terms “straight,” “gay,” and “lesbian” were included in the study.

Crouse is even angered that the survey found that, indeed, straight people contract STI’s and HIV. According to Crouse, any study of STI’s is part of a twisted plan concocted by the Obama Administration and the “homosexual lobby” to promote the “homosexual agenda”:

Note that, under the Obama administration, statisticians have adopted the use of STIs instead of STDs (sexually transmitted infections rather than sexually transmitted diseases). Representatives of Planned Parenthood and SEICUS told me, when I asked at a meeting about the difference between the two terms, that “infections” carry less of a stigma than a “disease,” because “anybody can get an infection, but a disease is more serious and carries a connotation of blame.”

While the focus ostensibly is on STIs, there are 10 graphs of same-sex attraction, sexual identity, sexual behavior, and sexual activity. All this attention produced evidence, not surprisingly, that 86 percent of HIV cases are acquired through sexual behavior (others acquire HIV through transmission from an infected spouse or partner, or from a pregnant mother to her baby) and that the cost of the 50,000 new cases of HIV each year is approximately $20,000 per person. Amazingly, (is this really necessary?) the study noted that, in addition to terms such as “heterosexual” and “homosexual,” they used the terms, “straight,” “gay” and “lesbian” so that respondents could easily “recognize” the meaning.

…

Clearly, the intent of this report is to document same-sex attraction, identification, behavior, and activity, rather than to report on sexually-transmitted diseases. Is this a sign of the times, or a calculated effort of the Obama administration to continue pushing the homosexual agenda? Or both? Is it really the federal government’s responsibility, and a good use of taxpayer money, to mine survey data to try to support the homosexual lobby’s claim that “we are everywhere” and “anybody can get HIV?”

Apparently Crouse has a problem with science: as this study documents, straight people are able to contract HIV, along with all other STI’s. While she says that the government should instead “report on sexually-transmitted diseases” (which it does), one of the best ways to learn about the transmission of STI’s is to learn about sexual behavior. Crouse could have learned this by reading the second sentence of the first paragraph of the study: “These behaviors and characteristics are relevant to birth and pregnancy rates, as well as the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).”

Moreover, she believes the Obama Administration is responsible for this outrageous research, but the National Survey of Family Growth conducted it from 2006-2008, under the Bush Administration.

Colmes tried to get Porter to admit that her goal is, ultimately, to outlaw abortion entirely but she kept dancing around the issue, insisting instead that she is really just embracing science and technology and that it is not her legislation that is unconstitutional, but rather Roe v. Wade that is unconstitutional. She also reported that legislators in Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona are "lining up" to introduce their own versions of her "Heartbeat Bill."

Oh, and a big "thank you" to Alan for the shout out to RightWingWatch - we love him too:

Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern wants to make it clear that her new legislation protecting the rights of science teachers to "teach all science instead of just the Darwin model" is in no way an attempt to introduce creationism or Intelligent Design into the classroom.

It is, in fact, just an attempt to let teachers teach "pure science" about "all of evolution" ... and apparently Kern just wants the teaching of "all of evolution" to include the religious theories about how evolution is utterly false:

"It stays 100 miles away from creationism and ID. It's not in any way trying to get those in there," said Rep. Sally Kern, (R) Oklahoma City.

Representative Sally Kern said her bill doesn't change any current science curriculum or textbook and doesn't alter Oklahoma's past standards for science education. The bill simply protects teachers who feel they don't have the freedom to fully explore controversial science topics.

"Some people say there's no problem. Yes, there is. I have some surveys that show that many teachers fear for their jobs. That they will be reprimanded or lose their jobs if they teach just pure science. If they teach all of science instead of just the Darwin model," said Rep. Kern.

...

"This bill is not anti-evolution. This bill is ‘Let's teach all of evolution.' Let's teach our children how to have inquiring minds. Let's teach them how to be critical thinkers, to look at both sides of an issue, scientific issue, and be able to examine what is the plausible thing there," said Kern.

Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern wants to make it clear that her new legislation protecting the rights of science teachers to "teach all science instead of just the Darwin model" is in no way an attempt to introduce creationism or Intelligent Design into the classroom.

It is, in fact, just an attempt to let teachers teach "pure science" about "all of evolution" ... and apparently Kern just wants the teaching of "all of evolution" to include the religious theories about how evolution is utterly false:

"It stays 100 miles away from creationism and ID. It's not in any way trying to get those in there," said Rep. Sally Kern, (R) Oklahoma City.

Representative Sally Kern said her bill doesn't change any current science curriculum or textbook and doesn't alter Oklahoma's past standards for science education. The bill simply protects teachers who feel they don't have the freedom to fully explore controversial science topics.

"Some people say there's no problem. Yes, there is. I have some surveys that show that many teachers fear for their jobs. That they will be reprimanded or lose their jobs if they teach just pure science. If they teach all of science instead of just the Darwin model," said Rep. Kern.

...

"This bill is not anti-evolution. This bill is ‘Let's teach all of evolution.' Let's teach our children how to have inquiring minds. Let's teach them how to be critical thinkers, to look at both sides of an issue, scientific issue, and be able to examine what is the plausible thing there," said Kern.

After calling for conservative writer William Kristol to apologize for “demonizing Glenn Beck, who has done more to educate Americans about the unholy alliance between the secular left and the Islamic jihadists than anyone else,” David Horowitz is now railing against the purported “infiltration of Islamic Jihadist doctrines” in public schools. Horowitz was reacting to the latest right-wing outrage over a school district in Texas that “wanted students at selected schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant,” a program “similar to the Spanish curriculum already in place in the district.” Ultimately, the school district put the Arabic language classes, which were to be “funded by a five-year, $1.3 million Foreign Language Assistance Program federal grant,” on hold.

But that hasn’t stopped Horowitz from speaking out. Horowitz, who has a long history of vilifying both Muslims and the public education system, is railing against the school district and teachers' unions as terrorist sympathizers who want to “indoctrinate students,” and claims that the Arab world contributed nothing to culture “except terror.” Horowitz tells the AFA’s OneNewsNow:

The DOE program identifies Arabic as "a language of the future." But David Horowitz, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, says Arabic is now a language of the past.

"What has the Arab world contributed except terror?" he exclaims. "The theocratic, repressive Arabic states do no significant science, no significant arts and culture."

The political activist admits he is skeptical about the district's claim that the courses will be about language and culture, and not about the Islamic religion.

"We already have a lot of infiltration of Islamic jihadist doctrines into our K-12 school systems," he argues. "The teachers unions have ruined our K-12 schools. These unions are very left-wing and they encourage Palestinian terrorists to come to the school and indoctrinate students. So I'm not too happy about this news item."

Horowitz says if the Mansfield ISD really wanted to look at a "language of the future," they would teach their children Chinese.

After calling for conservative writer William Kristol to apologize for “demonizing Glenn Beck, who has done more to educate Americans about the unholy alliance between the secular left and the Islamic jihadists than anyone else,” David Horowitz is now railing against the purported “infiltration of Islamic Jihadist doctrines” in public schools. Horowitz was reacting to the latest right-wing outrage over a school district in Texas that “wanted students at selected schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant,” a program “similar to the Spanish curriculum already in place in the district.” Ultimately, the school district put the Arabic language classes, which were to be “funded by a five-year, $1.3 million Foreign Language Assistance Program federal grant,” on hold.

But that hasn’t stopped Horowitz from speaking out. Horowitz, who has a long history of vilifying both Muslims and the public education system, is railing against the school district and teachers' unions as terrorist sympathizers who want to “indoctrinate students,” and claims that the Arab world contributed nothing to culture “except terror.” Horowitz tells the AFA’s OneNewsNow:

The DOE program identifies Arabic as "a language of the future." But David Horowitz, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, says Arabic is now a language of the past.

"What has the Arab world contributed except terror?" he exclaims. "The theocratic, repressive Arabic states do no significant science, no significant arts and culture."

The political activist admits he is skeptical about the district's claim that the courses will be about language and culture, and not about the Islamic religion.

"We already have a lot of infiltration of Islamic jihadist doctrines into our K-12 school systems," he argues. "The teachers unions have ruined our K-12 schools. These unions are very left-wing and they encourage Palestinian terrorists to come to the school and indoctrinate students. So I'm not too happy about this news item."

Horowitz says if the Mansfield ISD really wanted to look at a "language of the future," they would teach their children Chinese.

Janet Porter got her start in Religious Right politics back in Ohio, serving as the Legislative Director of Ohio Right to Life. Eventually, she was lured away to Florida by D. James Kennedy to serve as the National Director for his Center for Reclaiming America. After a few years, Porter then struck out on her own, launching Faith 2 Action and hosting a daily radio program that went increasinglyoff the rails until her operation was shut down due to her increasing involvement with Dominion Theology and self-proclaimed "prophets" like Cindy Jacobs.

And now things have come full circle, as Porter has moved back to Ohio and is applying her patented "send X number of Ys in support of Z" brand of activism to a piece of anti-choice legislation called "the Heartbeat Bill":

Representative Lynn Wachtmann, the new Chairman of the House Health Committee, has announced he will be introducing the "Heartbeat Bill" in the Ohio House which will protect unborn babies from abortion once their hearts have begun to beat.

"Science has already given us a yardstick to determine if someone is alive--a beating heart;" said Wachtmann, "We just want to see that measurement applied evenly. This bill calls for an end to discrimination and the protection of every human being with a beating heart--no matter their age!"

...

Janet (Folger) Porter, former Legislative Director of Ohio Right to Life, and President of Faith2Action, has moved back to Ohio to help lead the effort. "Ohio is going to make history again," said Porter, who helped to pass the nation’s first partial-birth abortion ban in 1995. "My last conversation with my dear friend Mark Lally, Ohio Right to Life's Legal Counsel, before he passed away, was about this very bill. We're going to pass it in his honor," added Porter.

Balloons ordered now will be delivered the week of Valentine's Day, when the bill is scheduled for introduction. Orders can be placed by going to http://www.HeartBeatBill.com before February 14th. Each balloon will come with a personalized card from the sender with the message: "Have a heart, Pass the Heartbeat Bill!"

Janet Porter got her start in Religious Right politics back in Ohio, serving as the Legislative Director of Ohio Right to Life. Eventually, she was lured away to Florida by D. James Kennedy to serve as the National Director for his Center for Reclaiming America. After a few years, Porter then struck out on her own, launching Faith 2 Action and hosting a daily radio program that went increasinglyoff the rails until her operation was shut down due to her increasing involvement with Dominion Theology and self-proclaimed "prophets" like Cindy Jacobs.

And now things have come full circle, as Porter has moved back to Ohio and is applying her patented "send X number of Ys in support of Z" brand of activism to a piece of anti-choice legislation called "the Heartbeat Bill":

Representative Lynn Wachtmann, the new Chairman of the House Health Committee, has announced he will be introducing the "Heartbeat Bill" in the Ohio House which will protect unborn babies from abortion once their hearts have begun to beat.

"Science has already given us a yardstick to determine if someone is alive--a beating heart;" said Wachtmann, "We just want to see that measurement applied evenly. This bill calls for an end to discrimination and the protection of every human being with a beating heart--no matter their age!"

...

Janet (Folger) Porter, former Legislative Director of Ohio Right to Life, and President of Faith2Action, has moved back to Ohio to help lead the effort. "Ohio is going to make history again," said Porter, who helped to pass the nation’s first partial-birth abortion ban in 1995. "My last conversation with my dear friend Mark Lally, Ohio Right to Life's Legal Counsel, before he passed away, was about this very bill. We're going to pass it in his honor," added Porter.

Balloons ordered now will be delivered the week of Valentine's Day, when the bill is scheduled for introduction. Orders can be placed by going to http://www.HeartBeatBill.com before February 14th. Each balloon will come with a personalized card from the sender with the message: "Have a heart, Pass the Heartbeat Bill!"

The State Department has announced that, beginning in February, the spaces for "mother's name" and "father's name" on passport applications will be replaced with "parent one" and "parent two" ... and, of course, the Religious Right is outraged:

“Only in the topsy-turvy world of left-wing political correctness could it be considered an ‘improvement’ for a birth-related document to provide less information about the circumstances of that birth,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins wrote in a statement to Fox News Radio. “This is clearly designed to advance the causes of same-sex ‘marriage’ and homosexual parenting without statutory authority, and violates the spirit if not the letter of the Defense of Marriage Act.”

Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, agreed. “It’s part of an overall attempt at political correctness to diminish the distinction between men and women and to somehow suggest you don’t need both a father and a mother to raise a child successfully,” said Jeffress. “(This decision) was made to make homosexual couples feel more comfortable in rearing children.”

"Only in the topsy-turvy world of left-wing political correctness could it be considered an 'improvement' for a birth-related document to provide less information about the circumstances of that birth. Yet that is the result of the State Department's decision to remove the words 'mother' and 'father' from Consular Reports of Birth Abroad.

"The dictionary defines 'birth' as 'the emergence of a new individual from the body of its parent' or 'the act or process of bringing forth young from the womb.' Since science has yet to create an artificial womb, in the human species that 'body' or 'womb' always belongs to a female parent, i.e., the mother. And since science has yet to master human cloning, the newborn human being has always received half of his or her genetic inheritance via the sperm of a male parent, i.e., the father. It would be helpful if a certificate related to 'birth' would identify which is which.

"This is clearly designed to advance the causes of same-sex 'marriage' and homosexual parenting without statutory authority, and violates the spirit if not the letter of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). But it does so at the expense of fundamental biological reality – and social reality as well. The State Department's abolition of motherhood and fatherhood would be almost comical, if it did not fly in the face of the mounting social science evidence that children are most likely to thrive when born into a family led by their own married biological mother and father.

"President Obama's Justice Department is purposefully failing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the courts, so it is little surprise that his State Department would show the same disrespect for U.S. law. The House of Representatives should take their oversight rule very seriously and intervene in both these circumstances."

Science Posts Archive

Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance appeared on Janet Parshall’s radio show In The Market on Tuesday to discuss the “Green Dragon” film series which was made by Beisner’s group and hosted by Parshall. As we discussed in our report The ‘Green Dragon’ Slayers: How the Religious Right and the Corporate Right are Joining Forces to Fight Environmental Protection, the “Green Dragon” series represents efforts by the Religious Right and the Corporate Right to paint environmentalism as anti-Christian and ungodly:
During the radio show, Parshall... MORE

A few weeks ago, David Barton was featured on a conference call promoting United In Purpose's upcoming "One Nation Under God" event and, during the discussion, asserted that his work is "documented so well" that all his critics can do is attack him personally.
The idea that critics cannot challenge Barton's "facts" is absurd. In fact, it was just last week that Barton was forced to admit that he misleadingly characterized the American College of Pediatricians, a small, right-wing splinter group, as "the leading pediatric association in America... MORE

David Barton’s WallBuilders is tireless in pushing its “Christian nation” version of American history. Today it encourages its supporters to “Celebrate Columbus Day!” and to read John Eidsmoe’s Columbus and Cortez: Conquerors for Christ.
Eidsmoe is the Christian Reconstructionist cited by Michele Bachmann as her mentor and major influence. He is also a colleague of Roy Moore, who lost his job as Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court when he refused to obey federal court orders to remove a Ten Commandments memorial he had... MORE

In August, David Barton misleadingly claimed that “the leading pediatric association in America” sent a letter to schools cautioning them against programs that try to prevent anti-gay bullying, asserting that pediatricians agree that young people will “end up being heterosexual unless you force them to be homosexual.”
As it turned out, Barton and his co-host Rick Green were citing the work of the American College of Pediatricians, an exceptionally small, right-wing splinter group of the significantly larger and more reputable American Academy of Pediatricians. In... MORE

This weekend, nearly every major GOP presidential candidate, along with the top two Republicans in the House of Representatives, will speak at the Values Voter Summit, an annual gathering of the leaders of the movement to integrate fundamentalist Christianity and American politics.
The candidates – Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich – and the congressmen – House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor – will join a who’s who of the far Right at the event. The organizers of... MORE

Here at Right Wing Watch we have been tracking right-wing activist and radio show host Linda Harvey of Mission America, who without fail attacks gays and lesbians in irate, crude, virulent and bizarre outbursts. In fact, she denies that gays and lesbians even exist.
Yesterday on her radio show, Harvey had on as her guest Laurie Higgins of the ultraconservative Illinois Family Institute. Higgins and Harvey agreed that homosexuality is in fact a choice, and that “homosexual activists” are dishonestly covering up that fact. Harvey went on to chastise “evil bloggers” for... MORE